Headed out of Barnegat Inlet late morning, with Rod sr. Ray Z and Bob Hare. to test out some new electronics I installed..

Ran North to Seaside and marked a lot of Bait Fish But nothing was on any of them.

So we worked our way back South.. Slowed up near IBSP in about 20 feet of water.. seen some bird action but no one home.. Noticed a Dolphin Coming out of the water and yelled to the crew to take a look. well It was the Dolphin that was Hunting us down Stopped the boat and to my surprise this lone beauty Came right up to the boat. basically Begging for a treat. Knowing it is Illegal to feed wild Dolphins.. we did not hand feed him any of our "Fresh" Just snagged..bunker..

He was Branded #56 on his dorsal fin. We all took turns patting him on the head..

WOW!! That is really awesome Rod. He has really traveled quite some distance!! Funny how he is still people friendly, as if he was still at Sea World. Hopefully he continues to stay healthy and unbothered by anyone. That is a great experience.

Nice boat outing. Thanks for letting me know no one is home in the SSP/IBSP area, I won't bother going out tonight !

Look Familiar? Our family ran into him last November and took the attached picture. It was as you said an amazing experience. As a lark I typed in "Who is dolphin 56" and was amazed to find out he was 12 years old when first tagged 30 + years ago!

My son, offshore Ryan actually tracked down the research scientist who was at the time in Germany doing a study. We sent on the picture and our report. They told us it was the clearest one they had seen in years with the 56 clearly visible. Quite the thrill and shows you never know what you will run into on the water

That is really cool! I guess he likes NJ, unless he is a snow bird?? He is pretty old for a dolphin too. It says average lifespan is 20-55 years or so. Which is quite a big difference. Either way, he is up there in age.

That is amazing. Great fish story, with pictures no less! outstanding. Somethinglike that can really make you feel like there's more to this than going out andgoing fishing. That's like a spiritual experience.